I had braces on my upper teeth three times. Count them. One. Two. Three.
As the orthodontist explained, “Teeth have a memory. They always want to go back to the way they were.”
As soon as he said those words, I felt convicted. I have a tendency to go back to the way I was.
We all do. Read more…
I was in college when I met my husband at a Bible study. He was sitting on the floor dressed in scruffy jeans, a red flannel shirt, and a strong face that needed a shave. The moment I saw him, I was smitten. But I didn’t want him to know that.
Steve finally asked me out on a date, Read more…
I’m writing over at Proverbs 31 Ministries today and thought you might enjoy the post as well.
You might be very surprised at what I’m getting ready to tell you, but here goes. For most of my life I felt like I was in second place, an alternate, an also ran, not quite as good as everybody else. Read more…
Carley and Dan are a couple who have gone the extra mile…not to go the extra mile. They constantly keep score as to who put a new bar of soap in the shower last or who replaced the toilet paper roll last or who opened a new tube of toothpaste last.
“It’s sort of a contest to see who can use the smallest sliver of soap or use the last drop of toothpaste,” Carley boasted. Read more…
Do you remember the first Rocky movie? (I just looked it up and there have been eight.) In the very first film about the Italian Stallion, Rocky Balboa falls madly in love with the very demure Adrian who works at a Tropical Fish pet store. Adrian is very intelligent, shy, and cautious. Rocky is, well, none of those things. In one scene, Read more…
I set out to tackle a task I had put off for many years. I didn’t really want to do it at all. It was the job of cleaning out my ministry storage closet. A closet filled with boxes of memories collected over twenty years.
A sign was posted on a telephone pole by the grocery store: “LOST DOG with three legs, blind in left eye, missing right ear, tail broken, and recently castrated. Answers to the name of Lucky!”
Perhaps you feel just about as “lucky” as that lost dog. Hobbling along. Impaired vision. Broken tail. Well, you get the picture. There was a woman in the Bible who also felt like she was out of luck and had nothing to give. Read more…
Have you ever felt the sting of rejection? That’s a silly question. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t.
When I first started writing, I sent off sample chapters to various publishers. Shortly after, rejection letters came creeping into my mailbox.
“Thanks, but no thanks. “Nobody knows you.” “Your manuscript does not meet our needs at this time.” “Blah, Read more…
I walked to the mailbox and then to the recycler. Don’t need this one, or this one, or this one I whispered as I dropped the shiny flyers in the red box.
I don’t know about you, but I get tired of slick ads for things I don’t need and junk mail from services I don’t want. Read more…
Have you ever felt that something done to you or done through you disqualified you from doing great things for God? Let me tell you a story about when I felt sooooo disqualified.
My son, Steven, was in the ninth grade when I turned in the manuscript for my book, Being a Great Mom, Raising Great Kids. Read more…